Kickstarter for a beautiful version of Wind in the Willows

[RubaiyatOfAnyone]

I should probably preface this by saying i am nothing to do with this campaign, i just saw it linked to on a LibraryThing thread I was on and totally fell in love with it.

It struck me as the sort of thing some MNers might like, as the illustrations are beautiful, calming and intricate all at once, just right for people looking for a gentle read in worried times.

Link here for those interested

This is my absolute childhood favourite book. I re-read the christmas chapter every Christmas, the beginning in the spring, and I even love the slightly odd Piper at the gates of dawn episode. If this book gets more people reading it, the average serenity of the world will probably rise by 0.3%. FACT

It is a lovely read isn't it. I do like those illustrations.

I still have my childhood books, one with colour illustrations and another, older version, with E. H. Shepard sketches.

Thank you so much for this link, it looks absolutely beautiful.

It's such a wonderful story, and I love the Alan Bennett audio book of it. I also have a copy with the EH Shepherd illustrations and another with the Arthur Rackham ones too - not that I'm obsessed or anything...

I love it too! The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is my favourite, followed by the Christmas one. I have a copy with the Shepherd illustrations and one with John Burningham's.

Resurrected this thread to say that I did back this project and have just taken delivery of the most superb book.

There are plenty lovely colour illustrations throughout the whole book, it must have been a real labour of love by the illustrator.

Oh, exciting to hear @TonTonMacoute . I backed it too because of this thread and am waiting most impatiently for mine.

The Wind the Willows is very special to me too. I first came across it as a child desperately hunting for something new to read and poking without much hope through a bookcase of discarded old textbooks.

I came across a very battered, inky book with no pictures and a unpromising title, and was hooked from the first line about the Mole spring-cleaning. It was magical; my version of stepping into Narnia.

I tried to get my 10 year old to read it recently. She's too old to be interested much in talking animals and yet the language is archaic and a bit advanced for her. I think this is sadly one of those texts that won't survive the next generation. (See also Mr Men and Beatrix Potter books.)

We had it as an audiobook and used to listen to it on long car journeys, that is a good way to introduce DCs to classic books that seem a bit old fashioned.

However, I think many people come to really appreciate children's classics much later in life, so all is not lost!

I might buy a copy as the illustrations, I remember, were lovely.

It's definitely not just for children. I listened to the BBC radio version recently. It really is a comfort read/listen and so beautifully evocative.

I still far prefer the original illustrations, and find it odd to praise art for being "calming."

Calming, soothing, comforting, cosy, I think book illustrations can be all of these things 🤷‍♀️

Did you realise it was originally published back in 1908?
My copy has the Ernest H Shephard illustrations which are beautiful.
My Mum died recently & I was reading it to her. Reading it out loud meant I appreciated the language even more.
'Piper at the Gates of Dawn' is magical. And I love 'Dolce Domun' - the Mole hearing the call of his home.

Those illustrations are beautiful. I have the Inga Moore version which is also very lovely.

Agree @TonTonMacoute

I have two versions (not this one), one that I bought when I was a student, and one I bought my so . I'm reading it to him now - he's ten - and it's beautiful, but tiring for me in the evenings 😂 Some of the language is very complex but he is enjoying it.

I love the original Shepard illustrations too, and that was my first and most loved version. It is a triumph of the “golden age” of Edwardian children’s lit.

But I now have the Inga Moore mentioned above which is just lovely, as well as ones illustrated by Michael Foreman, Michael Hague, and the folio society one by Charles Van Sandwyk. They are all so lovely but so different, i can spend hours looking at how different illustrators have treated the same text.

I don’t yet have my copy of this one <sulks> but i’m very much looking forward to it arriving. If you think that’s a bit overkill you should see my 21 versions of Alice in Wonderland!

i find it odd that anyone would find it odd that art can be calming. I find art (and i personally particularly love illustrators) can be anything from soothing to energising to melancholy.

Just had to go upstairs to find the EH Shepherd version which I had as a child. I had forgotten how wonderful they are too. According to Wikipedia they are the only proper illustrations that Kenneth Grahame saw, and he loved them.

We had an Arthur Rackham version too but it was my DF's and I think that it's still at his house.

Yes, of course, they CAN be.

I just think it's odd to single those aspect out for praise.

It wasn’t singled out though, OP also mentioned beautiful and intricate and reminded people that the book was a gentle read, an escape from worrying times.